By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Charlie Plaskon has competed in nearly 60 marathons and triathlons since he retired from a teaching career on Long Island more than a dozen years ago which isn’t too shabby for a 69-year-old man.
But what sets Mr. Plaskon apart from others in his age group is his total lack of eyesight. He has been legally blind since being diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, which is a degenerative macular disease, when he was in the first grade.
Friday morning, Mr. Plaskon brought his vision “not to focus on what you don’t have, but to focus on what you do have” to students at The Bridge Academy, which is a Lawrence-based school for students with learning disabilities. He was invited to take part in Bike for Bridge the next day, which is a fundraiser for the school.
”In my very, very beginning, I was born in September 1943 with big blue eyes. But they came with a degenerative disease. It was ‘lights out’ in my central vision, and then my peripheral vision,” Mr. Plaskon told the students.
Mr. Plaskon said his world was “fine” when he was a baby. He learned to crawl and then to stand up and then to walk. Life was very good until he started school, when it soon became apparent that there was something amiss, he said.
His first-grade teacher alerted his parents about his lack of progress not because he was unwilling, but because there was something wrong, Mr. Plaskon said. His parents took him to several physicians and eventually found one who made the diagnosis.
The doctor recommended taking the young child home and not allowing him to leave, “because the world is dangerous,” Mr. Plaskon said. He overhead the doctor offer that advice to his father, but he could not make sense of what had just occurred, he said.
”I was barely 6 years old,” Mr. Plaskon said.
The father and son left the doctor’s office and rode home in silence. His father took him into the kitchen and sat down. He told his son not to listen to the doctor, but to listen to him that he never wanted to hear the young boy use his lack of sight as an excuse.
Mr. Plaskon went back to school. One day, the teacher held up flash cards for the multiplication tables. The other children called out the answers, but not young Charlie. He could not see the flash cards, even though he was seated close to the teacher.
”What I could see was a lifetime of struggle. Maybe the doctor was right. I should go home. What will happen to my dreams? My father said there was no excuse. I said, ‘Nope, no one is going to be messing with my dreams.’ I had to make my own way,” he said.
Mr. Plaskon was sent to special schools for the blind and then attended college at Newark State College. He earned graduate degrees from the University of Maryland and Hofstra University. He embarked on a teaching career in public school on Long Island, N.Y., retiring in 1999.
Tiring of retirement, Mr. Plaskon began to take part in marathon races. He soon progressed to triathlon or iron man events, which add swimming and bicycling to the foot race. The swimming portion is about 2.4 miles, followed by a 112-mile bicycle race and topped off with a 26-mile marathon. Each portion has a time limit in which it is to be completed.
In all marathon and triathlon events, Mr. Plaskon works with a “sighted” partner, who is attached to him by a rope. They compete as a team.
For the students’ benefit, Mr. Plaskon demonstrated how he prepares for each segment of the iron man contest, putting on one shoe and then another, then a cap for the swimming contest. All of the equipment is laid out for him, and he feels around for the items. He has light perception, but is unable to see objects.
Since he began competing in marathon and triathlon events more than a dozen years ago, Mr. Plaskon has won numerous medals.
”You know what, I give my medals away. Every day in my life is a challenge. Getting toothpaste from the tube to the toothbrush and then bringing it to my mouth is a challenge. If you think I’m joking, try doing it in the dark,” he told the students.
Holding up a framed print of a bridge, which symbolizes The Bridge Academy, Mr. Plaskon told the students that what he sees in the print is a team of people who are trying to complete a task. That’s what The Bridge Academy is faculty and staff who are trying to help build a bridge for the students so they can get from one point to another, he said.
The teachers are here to help them, he told the students, adding that “I only hope you are here to learn.” He said the room is full of desire and that he “just knows” that the students are going to get from one side of the bridge to the other.
Mr. Plaskon told them they can make a difference, and they do not know what they are capable of doing. He urged the students to take in as much information as they can and then to put it to good use.
”You know, the doctor can weigh you. The doctor can measure your height. The doctor can look into your eyes. But what the doctor cannot measure is what is in your heart. Don’t let anybody say you can’t do something or tear you down,” Mr. Plaskon said, pointing to his heart.
